To Avoid Supporting His Ex-Wife, a Man Faked His Death Certificate
United States – A man falsified his death certificate to avoid supporting his ex-wife.
Jesse Kipf, 39, from Kentucky, confessed to accessing Hawaii’s death registry system. He gained entry using login details he stole from a doctor in Hawaii in January 2023. He committed the crime to pretend he was dead and dodge paying over US$100,000 or PHP5,649,100 in child support to his child’s mother. Jesse faces a seven-year prison term for his actions.
Investigators found that Jesse created and filed a death certificate for himself in Hawaii’s death registry system. He also pretended to be the doctor whose login details he used to certify his own death. According to court documents, Jesse admitted to illegally accessing websites run by the States of Arizona and Vermont, as well as GuestTek Interactive Entertainment and Milestone, Inc. He listed himself as deceased in various US government databases.
In his plea agreement, Jesse admitted to committing the crimes to dodge paying child support to his former spouse. He completed a State of Hawaii Death Certificate Worksheet, assigned himself as the medical certifier, and applied a digital signature. This resulted in his false registration as deceased in many government databases.
Additionally, Jesse confessed to hacking into private business, governmental, and corporate networks using stolen credentials. He tried to sell his access to various networks to online buyers until authorities identified him. On March 29, Jesse pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
As part of the plea agreement, Jesse is required to pay private companies and government networks US$79,000 or PHP4,462,789 each. The court also ordered him to pay the amount he owes to his former wife. Jesse agreed to surrender his electronic devices used for hacking.